Long-Lost Voucher Law Stirs Choice Movement in Ga.

Advocates of school choice in Georgia have unearthed a
long-forgotten school-voucher law that they hope to revive in order to
win public funding for private school tuition.

It was unclear last week whether the 1961 law, which critics say was
intended to resist school desegregation, is still alive or was killed
by subsequent legislation.

Nevertheless, the existence of the statute appears to have spurred a
voucher movement by prompting hundreds of parents to ask the state to
give them money to send their children to private schools.

Taking no position on school choice but calling it "a legitimate
issue,'' Lieut. Gov. Pierre Howard has asked the Senate to hold public
hearings on the current status of the law.

Sen. Sallie P. Newbill last week said she plans in January to
introduce legislation to fund vouchers under the 1961 law.

Ms. Newbill, the Senate minority whip, already claims to have many
of her fellow Republicans, as well as some Democrats, behind her
effort. Many other lawmakers, she said, appear to "have their fingers
stuck up in the wind'' and could come on board if California voters
next month pass a voucher proposal on the state ballot. (See story,
page 1.)

"We need to have a full-blown discussion of what is wrong with
public education in Georgia,'' Ms. Newbill said, noting that the
state's students consistently rank near the bottom in comparisons with
other states.

"This school-choice bill is going to provide that opportunity,'' she
maintained.

Efforts to revive the law will have to overcome resistance, however,
from the Georgia Association of Educators, which says the 1961 law is
inoperative and "fundamentally flawed.''

"Voucher proposals signal an abandonment of the public school
system,'' asserted Carolyn Lee Hart, the association's president.

The 1961 statute was unearthed by Glenn A. Delk, an Atlanta lawyer
representing a mother who is seeking help to take her daughter out of
the city's public schools.

Parents Stake Voucher Claims

That law, passed at a time when Georgia school districts were
threatening to shut down rather than accept court-ordered
desegregation, provided for grants of state and local funds to be made
available for children to attend nonsectarian private schools.

Citing the law, the mother, Dawna Hill, has asked the Atlanta school
board for a grant of public funds to send her daugher to a private
school. Ms. Hill asserted in a letter that she needs such a grant to
insure her daughter's right under the state constitution to an
"adequate education.''

Mr. Delk said hundreds of other parents have come forward to ask for
help since his announcement this summer of the existence of the 1961
law. Although the Atlanta board has not responded to Ms. Hill's
request, parents in other school systems have been told by district
officials that the 1961 law is no longer operative.

Mr. Delk disagrees, arguing that the 1961 law "has never been
repealed'' and "seems pretty clear on its face.'' He has threatened to
file suit on behalf of parents whose grant requests were denied.

Governor Had Backed Measure

Much of the debate over the 1961 law centers on its intent.

In an unofficial legal opinion issued last month at Senator
Newbill's request, Attorney General Michael J. Bowers said the measure
could be challenged in court as "conceived with a discriminatory
intent.''

That view raised a delicate question, however, for Gov. Zell Miller,
who voted for the law as a a freshman senator.

Mr. Miller, a Democrat, last month said he had viewed the measure
not as a way to let children abandon desegregated public schools, but
as insurance that children would continue to receive an education if
their local school systems tried to close rather than desegregate.

"I supported that bill because it was a way to keep kids in
school,'' the Governor said.

The attorney general's opinion also said the 1961 law is no longer
operative because it was tied to a school-finance system the
legislature replaced with a sweeping school-reform law in 1985.

Senator Newbill last week argued, however, that lawmakers would not
have left the 1961 law on the books if they had meant for it to be
repealed.

Ms. Newbill added that the bill she plans to introduce will change
how state education grants are calculated in order to fund state and
local grants for students to attend private schools.

"A voucher system or school choice is part of the mix of things that
need to be done to improve the quality of education for all children,''
said Matthew J. Glavin, the president of the Georgia Public Policy
Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Vol. 13, Issue 05

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